Remy pummels the time flayer relentlessly, then Fergus slices I to it, cutting its head from its shoulders in a critical hit!
The thing crumples to the ground. Then it vanishes as abruptly as it appeared, and time immediately reverts back to normal.
The crowd around you murmurs in surprise as, to their eyes, you appear to have suddenly shifted position across the plaza. They are startled, but not outlandishly so--there is much magic in the air tonight, after all.
Sorshen takes notice as well, though, and the runelord looks quite concerned. "What just happened?" she asks as she floats down from the tower and moves to your side.
"It seems that our gallivanting through quivering timelines has attracted some extra-planar attention. We were just attacked by a guardian of time."
Flik flashing a reassuring glance at where he imagines Maddies is lurking. "I don't think it's speeding up or slowing down our companions, either. No wizard would live to be very old if they were hunted down for such things."
”Ah, that makes a lot of sense, actually. I had hoped you might be lucky enough to avoid such entanglements, but you seem to have handled yourselves admirably.”
The runelord reaches into her pocket and produces a small bit of agate. "I was considering feeding this to a pig and having you chase it down to recover it, but I think we're past the time for silly games. Please, take this to aid you in your quests."
Borgol sheathes his blade, and shakes his head, his voice both weary and firm, "Sorshen, I think the time for silly games ended long ago, even in this timeline. But, since we're being honest, a question - how is it that we - those trying to repair things - are the ones being attacked, rather than those doing the damage in the first place?"
"The denizens of the Dimension of Time believe themselves beyond morality," Sorshen says. "They make no distinction between those traveling time for good or for ill. All who move against the natural flow of time may find themselves targets of the wrath of the hounds of Tindalos, time flayers, or even more dangerous beings."
Borgol winces at the response, "So then, basically, Alaznist is stirring up things, and we're catching the waves in her wake? Is there no way to protect ourselves against this? Or point them in the right direction?" He sighs, "I suppose we're not so lucky."
He takes a moment, then asks, "But, since you seem to be of a mind to play straight with us, at least for the next few minutes -- what can you tell us of her plans? Surely, you know more than you're letting on."
”Honestly? I don’t know,” Sorshen admits. ”All I know is that Alaznist is amassing a large amount of power and mucking about with the timeline somehow. I’ve managed to escape from several dying timelines so far—no mean feat, let me tell you!—but in all of those, I have never been able to get close to finding out the truth of what she is up to. But...something feels different about this go around. Temporal magic is extremely volatile, but perhaps she is finally getting close to getting it right. And if those dead timelines have resulted from her failures, I shudder to think of what might happen when she finally succeeds!”
Borgol asks, "Do we think she was guiding the Cult? Whether seeking an ally or a distraction?"
Sorshen shakes her head. ”The Cult serves the Peacock Spirit, of which Runelord Xanderghul was the high priest. They would never ally themselves with Alaznist, willingly or otherwise. But they are a distraction, and a dangerous one at that. We will need to deal with them after we ensure Zutha does not return.”
Flik nods in agreement.
"Enemies on many sides, but at least we have a direction now. There will literally be no time to deal with that cult if we don't stop Zutha's return."
Fergus sheepishly asks, In all of your timelines, what can you tell me about my kin, Cordwin? I was always told that he was a Sihedron Hero, but he seems to be a villain in this particular timeline.
”Yes, Cordwin Ironbeard usually is a Hero,” Sorshen says. ”I do not know why the world remembers him to be otherwise. It may have to do with Alaznist’s meddling—playing with time can lead to unexpected consequences. Perhaps in ultimately defeating her, it will set things right with your family, Fergus.”
A look of resolve comes over Fergus' face.
Borgol nods, "I guess you're right about that, Flik.. But I do have one more question: Given that you want us to succeed almost as much as we do, Sorshen, is there anything else we should know before we foolishly leap into danger? After all, you're far more aware of what's happening here - and across timelines - than we are."
"Alas, you now know exactly as much as I do regarding my rival Runelords' schemes," Sorshen says with a sigh. "Suffice to say, we must stop each of them in turn to ensure the safety of this world, and all worlds. First Zutha, then Xanderghul, then ultimately, Alaznist. But for now, it seems the festival is about to reach its fiery finale. Shall we watch the queen burn together?"
The runelord gestures to the wooden effigy of Queen Ileosa.
Together as a group, you approach the effigy of Queen Ileosa. The plaza’s crowd grows quiet as it gathers around the effigy, leaving a 20-foot-radius area between the people and the effigy’s platform. The honor of lighting the statue’s crimson cloth drapery falls, as is tradition, to a woman who survived servitude as one of Ileosa’s Gray Maidens. She gazes solemnly out across the plaza, her face still bearing the scars of her ordeal.
As the former Maiden steps up to light the pyre, Flik notices something suspicious--an elegantly dressed and beautiful woman standing nearby seems to be praying to a softly glowing symbol clutched in her hand. The gnome recognizes the symbol as being that of the Peacock Spirit.
A cheer goes up from the crowd as the statue’s drapery ignites, and within a few moments, the entire wooden effigy is burning brightly...
"I had a bad feeling about this! It looks like there's a cultist in league with Xanderghul there, by the effigy."
Flik starts performing and casts good hope.
"Damn! Take them down, swiftly!" Remy shouts. She puts her words into action, leaping at the nearest cultist to kick her in the face, then deliver two body blows to take her down!
As the first cultist falls, several more people in the crowd shriek in rage. They cast aside their drab cloaks to reveal their elegant peacock-themed outfits. "All runelords must burn before the fires of the Peacock Spirit!" they cry as they converge on you and attack! Sorshen quickly casts a spell and disappears from sight.
Borgol tightens his grip on his shield and uses it to bash two of the attackers before drawing his blade, commanding it to burst into flame and attacking the third.
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As they approach the effigy, Fergus sees his cousin Searok still eating and drinking and Fergus just shakes his head. No sooner than Flik shouts out his warning, that Fergus is attacked by a cultist. He reciprocates the favor.
Maddie calls upon her previously unneeded magics, imbuing Remy with its strength.
Flik will cast hideous laughter (defensively) on the magenta cultist.
"They look to be merely cultists, you're familiar with their tactics!"
Remy taps into her ki to unleash her fury on the cultists attacking her!
Fergus slices the cultist that attacked him twice with his axe. Borgol bashes the enemies near him with his shield, knocking one away, before slicing into the one Fergus wounded with his flaming sword.
As Maddie begins to cast her enlarging spell, Flik causes one of the cultists to fall to the floor, laughing hysterically! Remy destroys the two enemies who dared to attack her, crunching bones beneath her fist!
The badly wounded cultsit raises her hands before vanishing in a puff of bright blue-green smoke. As the remaining foes press their attacks against Borgol and Fergus, the effigy of Ileosa flashes with a blast of blue-green fire, and a tremendous, burning, peacock-like creature emerges from the flames with a thunderous cry!
The crowd gathered in plaza panics and begins to flee in all directions. The burning bird fixes its gaze on Remy, perhaps mistaking her for Sorshen. It flaps its wings, firing a bolt of thunder and lightning at the monk! Remy throws herself into a forward somersault, and the cobblestones behind her spray into the air as the bolt strikes them instead of her!
The laughing cultist recovers!
Seeing the new threat, Borgol quickly moves to dispatch the Cultists, to be able to focus on the larger threat.
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Maddie's magic takes effect, and Remy quickly doubles in size! The ten-foot-tall woman rushes at the peacock phoenix, shouting as she delivers a flying kick to its mid-section before following up with a flurry of punches, one of which gets past its defenses.
Fergus attacks the cultist who attacked him!
Flik identifies the strange creature as a variant of a thunderbird. Thunderbirds are magical beasts with power over storms, thunder, and lightning. This one seems to be infused with elemental fire as well.
Maddie begins to cast a spell, holding it for the moment after all her allies have made their attacks, then unleashes its power at once.
Immediately, a massive plane in the air just... stops. A shimmering curtain of air, rising some thirty feet into the air, freezes in time, cutting off two of the cultists and forcing them to take a sizeable detour if they want to rejoin the fight.
Maddie raises a wall of force, blocking off two of the cultists. Flik manages to pin the thunderbird in place by its shadow, allowing Remy to get some good hits in. Fergus badly wounds one opponent, allowing Borgol to cut him down. The ranger then slices and bashes the other nearby enemy, knocking him quite far away!
That cultist vanishes in a puff of smoke rather than stay and fight to the death. As the other cultists push through the crowd to get around the wall of force, strong winds and thunderclouds begin to swirl around the peacock. It screeches, biting and clawing at Remy. Its beak and talons tear into the monk, and she groans as she falls, bloodied and unconscious!
"Remy! No!" Maddie cries out, darting to the fallen monk. She glares at the thunderbird, eyes glowing a furious and electric blue. With a practiced flick of her wrist, she sends a volley of magical darts at the 'peacock.'
"Up and at 'em, Remy!"
Flik continues to perform, casts a healing spell, and rushes over to infuse Remy with its magic.
Fergus will rush up and attack the bird!
He will also detect evil on the bird.
Borgol feels his stomach knot as Remy falls, but then shakes the fear away as he sees Flik tending her wounds, He can heal her -- and your blade is needed to strike down the bird that dropped her.
Borgol walks forward, stepping just short of the bird creature as he wills holy power into his blade, the red fire being joined with silver.
Remy groans in pain as Flik's magic revives her. Seeing the giant bird still looming large over her, she kips up to her feet and focuses her ki on taking an abundant step, teleporting to a safe distance.
The thunderbird shrieks as Maddie slams it with magic missiles, but Fergus's axe fails to pierce its thick hide. The paladin can sense the strong aura of evil emanating from the beast.
The two remaining cultists move to harry Flik while the peacock assaults Fergus, shredding through the paladin's armor like it were made of paper! The thunderclouds around the bird rumble as a bolt of lightning shoots down at one of the cultists! The unfortunate man is too slow to avoid it, and he falls to the ground, convulsing from the powerful blast!
Borgol doubles in size and starts to swing his twice-flaming blade at the bird, trying to attack its attention away from the paladin.
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Maddie glances back at the cultist attacking Flik, sparing them only enough attention to pelt them with magical bullets before her glare returns to the thunderbird.
Flik defensively tries to cast invisibility on himself, but he's distracted by the looming cultists.
He keep performing (Naturalist on the bird) and tries to tumble away from his attackers.
Borgol lands one hit on the peacock phoenix, while Fergus slices it twice with his axe. Each slash elicits a spray of boiling blood from the fiery bird, though, splashing and scorching both warriors. The paladin lays hands on himself to mitigate some of his wounds.
Flik clumsily tumbles away from the cultist, but the man still misses with his swing, allowing the gnome to get away from him. Maddie's magic missiles thump into the man's chest, then Remy comes rushing up to meet him, ignoring her grievous injuries.
Her punch cracks the cultist's sternum, and he gasps for breath before stumbling away and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The peacock bites and claws at Fergus again, leaving him barely standing!
Flik takes a step forard and casts invisibility sphere, shrouding himself and his allies from view!
Fergus will use his lay on hands ability.
I smite you creature!
Borgol takes a moment and draws deep on his faith, filling himself with power that he releases to try to keep his allies on their feet - excluding the bird.